Doggydaddy's Den: Doggy's Doghouse 12/30/19

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Image result for not pretty has to be gritty

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Today, 12/30, is my actual birthday and I had a really nice old man day!!!

Went out to breakfast with a good friend, his treat. Then went to my Monday morning bowling league where they announced over the PA system that it was my birthday. Lots of applause and cheering and folks saying how young I was. Yes, it's a retirement league and I am one of the youngest bowlers..lol.

Then is was home for some lunch and a nice nap. I received a phone call from my granddaughters who sang me happy birthday! Believe it or not, our 13 year old granddaughter talked to us on the phone for 40 minutes, filling us in on her life. It was so sweet!!!

Then out to dinner with my beautiful bride to Elizabeth's Restaurant in Bloomfield. Great Itallian food!

Now home and finishing up my blog. An all around great 67th birthday.

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Yes, UConn is playing conference games on Thursday against Wichita State and then Sunday against SMU but it's hard not to look ahead to the following Thursday, January 9th, when the Huskies host Baylor in a game that should tell us a lot about this version of UConn.

Baylor is No. 6 in the polls but 37th in RPI due to a pretty weak schedule. The Bears have only played two decent teams, beating 14th ranked Indiana and losing to 4th ranked South Carolina.

But it has to be said that they will be getting back a superstar in Lauren Cox.

Baylor is preparing for UConn by taking on Morehead State and Oklahoma. At least one could be a challenge.

BTW, here is my UConn/Wichita State Pregame Report.

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I'm channeling David again and I noticed some interesting stats regarding the team so far this season.

Did you know.......

That the top scoring players, Walker, Williams, Dangerfield and Nelson-Ododa are shooting 48.6% from the field.

That the next four scoring players, Griffin, Irwin Makurat and Bent are shooting 50.4% from the field.

That the top scoring players are shooting 38.1% on threes.

That the next four scoring players are shooting 37.3% on threes.

That the top scoring players have assist/turmovers of 120/97.

That the next four scoring players have an assists/turnovers of 68/35 .

Interesting, huh. The "bench" is shooting a higher percentage from the field and a slightly lower percentage on threes.

The "bench" actually takes care of the ball better with a much better assists to turnover ratio.

I don't know if there is a point to this. But I will say that based on these numbers the "bench is doing a great job!!

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From Phil

Notre Dame managed to lose at home to Clemson recently. They were 6-7 going into the game, fully expecting to reach .500, but instead slipped to 6–8. It was a notable event because Notre Dame had never lost at home in conference since joining the conference in 2013. While that's a tough streak to maintain, I'll bet Notre Dame fans thought that if the streak ended, it would be to one of the blue chippers: Florida State, Louisville or NC State, not to Clemson.

The loss has other implications as well. Notre Dame entered the game ranked 48 in the Massey rankings. That's not quite bubble territory, but within shouting distance. Fans are likely to be a little bit concerned, but reasonably expected to beat Clemson, reach .500, win more than they lose in the conference and earn an invitation to the tournament, even if not as high a seed as they would like. In most past years, they wouldn't even be thinking about needing an at-large invitation, as they expected to win the conference. This year, that's less likely, but I bet most expected that a tournament invite was far more likely than not.

Instead, the loss dropped them to number 66 in the Massey rankings. The season isn't remotely over, but now instead of needing a decent victory or two to get back comfortably above the bubble, they are looking at teams ahead of him with names like Middle Tennessee and Seton Hall. We cannot count them out yet. Conference play has just started, and that's a double-edged sword. They will play some challenging teams in conference, but they also should have some easy wins. Of the top three teams in the conference (Florida State, Louisville, NC State) they only have to play Louisville twice, with a single game against the other top two teams. Of the bottom four teams in the conference, they get to play Pittsburgh and Boston College twice, so they should be able to add more wins than losses. However, Massey expects them to win nine and lose eight of their remaining games, which would leave them under .500. Not many teams get invited to the tournament with a sub .500 record. As I mentioned, it's a double-edge sword. Teams close to the bubble in a weak conference have very few opportunities to move up. Notre Dame will have many opportunities to improve their standing.

If they don't turn a conference invitation, it will mark a rare but not unique event. Teams reaching national runner-up in the tournament typically make the tournament a number of subsequent years. Only once, Ohio State in 1993, has a team become the national runner-up and failed to qualify for the tournament the next year. Notre Dame has a chance to tie Ohio State for that "distinction".

Notre Dame is also two years removed from the national championship. Old Dominion, who won the national championship in 1985, is the only team to win a national championship and fail to qualify for the in the subsequent year. North Carolina, who won the championship in 1994, is the only team to win a national championship and fail to make the conference exactly two years later.

It is almost surprising this doesn't happen more often. While many coaches try to balance their roster in terms of classes, but sometimes due to happenstance, there's an anaconda class that may end up being a monster senior class, followed by a team that might be substantially weaker than the prior year's team. That's pretty much what happened to Notre Dame, although I don't know whether it was deliberate or happenstance.

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By David in Naples!!!!!

One UConn fan took offense when I pointed out Megan Walker leads the Huskies in assists over Crystal, 34 vs 31. Suck it up buttercup, 34 is a larger number than 31. Yes, Crystal has missed 2 games. That doesn't make 31 a bigger total than 34. Basic math, numnuts. I'm sure she will overtake Megan and lead the team in assists like she did last season, when she had 225 assists. That was the first 200+ assist season since MoJeff had 205 in 2015-16.

Crystal is currently #12 in Uconn's list of career assist leaders with 512. Next up is #11 Kelly Faris with 525. Maya Moore is #8 with 544 assists. The real target is #5 Sue Bird at 585. With only 74 assists, Crystal would move into the top 5 all-time..!! The top two assist leaders are #2 Diana Taurasi at 648 and Moriah Jefferson at #1 with 659 total assists. Those two are most likely out of reach for Crystal. A top five finish for career assists would cement Dangerfield as one of the all-time best to play at Uconn.

By the way, there is no footnote next to Moriah Jefferson's all-time assist total saying she played more games that Diana Taurasi. All time records don't work that way. She is #1 with 659 assists and Diana is #2 with 648 assists. For the record, here are the total games played by MoJeff, D.T. and Sue Bird.

Moriah = 155 games

D.T. = 144 games

Sue Bird = 118 games

DD here - I love when David gets going!!!!

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